Author
Topic: Overheard at Work (Read 9127767 times)

Just went and got lunch out of the fridge. In there is a store bought pack of hard boiled eggs (non-organic, I looked). 6 for $3.99

For comparison, I bought a dozen eggs for 34 cents.

Where on Earth is this possible? Best I've seen is with a special coupon at Safeway, 0.99$ as a loss leader. I think usually they are 1.99. Organic/cage free/whatever are in the 4.99 - 8.99/dozen range.

Not only that, but there are 4 different supermarkets within a 5 min walk radius. I know he's aware of the concept since he sometimes goes to buy a post-lunch snack at the supermarket by work.

WTF? A post-lunch snack? A snack, for after lunch, which is a meal, at which food is consumed? Seriously? He should try eating actual nutrition for lunch and see if that makes a difference to hunger levels.

wait wait. Hold the phone. I have 2 snacks every day usually. One between breakfast and lunch and one between lunch and dinner. Don't go dissin on the snacks! I like to forage. I don't like to stuff myself. I eat lots of vegetables, so I get hungry often.

I'm loving snacks in general, and a mid-afternoon snack is fine. But a snack right after lunch is weird to me. If you need a snack right after lunch then you're doing lunch wrong.

Second breakfasts are fine. 9am is a perfectly reasonable time for a breakfast, so is 6am, and three hours is a reasonable time between meals.

Just went and got lunch out of the fridge. In there is a store bought pack of hard boiled eggs (non-organic, I looked). 6 for $3.99

For comparison, I bought a dozen eggs for 34 cents.

Where on Earth is this possible? Best I've seen is with a special coupon at Safeway, 0.99$ as a loss leader. I think usually they are 1.99. Organic/cage free/whatever are in the 4.99 - 8.99/dozen range.

Just went and got lunch out of the fridge. In there is a store bought pack of hard boiled eggs (non-organic, I looked). 6 for $3.99

For comparison, I bought a dozen eggs for 34 cents.

Where on Earth is this possible? Best I've seen is with a special coupon at Safeway, 0.99$ as a loss leader. I think usually they are 1.99. Organic/cage free/whatever are in the 4.99 - 8.99/dozen range.

Aldi's near me has been running <40cents/dozen recently.

What conditions do you suppose those chickens live in, if they can sell their eggs so cheaply?

Just went and got lunch out of the fridge. In there is a store bought pack of hard boiled eggs (non-organic, I looked). 6 for $3.99

For comparison, I bought a dozen eggs for 34 cents.

Where on Earth is this possible? Best I've seen is with a special coupon at Safeway, 0.99$ as a loss leader. I think usually they are 1.99. Organic/cage free/whatever are in the 4.99 - 8.99/dozen range.

Aldi's near me has been running <40cents/dozen recently.

What conditions do you suppose those chickens live in, if they can sell their eggs so cheaply?

At this price, I am not sure if they are even alive. Or chickens, come to that.

Age 40, a girl works in my team - this is a regular conversation overheard...

"I have 25 Dollars left in my bank account. Boy, did we have a busy weekend"

Its non-stop eating out, cocktails, trips away.

This girl still lives in a shared rental, puts nothing extra away each month into a pension.Her plan is to find a rich older guy, who will come with a house. WTF?Is this a common theme? I know a few other people like this.

Just went and got lunch out of the fridge. In there is a store bought pack of hard boiled eggs (non-organic, I looked). 6 for $3.99

For comparison, I bought a dozen eggs for 34 cents.

Where on Earth is this possible? Best I've seen is with a special coupon at Safeway, 0.99$ as a loss leader. I think usually they are 1.99. Organic/cage free/whatever are in the 4.99 - 8.99/dozen range.

Aldi's near me has been running <40cents/dozen recently.

What conditions do you suppose those chickens live in, if they can sell their eggs so cheaply?

Regardless, the hard boiled eggs are coming from the same chickens.

But part of the reason for the low price is high supply. Hens are super productive due to breeding, and after the avian flu high prices caused many more farms in my state to turn to chickens. Now there are too many hens laying.

Age 40, a girl works in my team - this is a regular conversation overheard...

"I have 25 Dollars left in my bank account. Boy, did we have a busy weekend"

Its non-stop eating out, cocktails, trips away.

This girl still lives in a shared rental, puts nothing extra away each month into a pension.Her plan is to find a rich older guy, who will come with a house. WTF?Is this a common theme? I know a few other people like this.

Is she that good looking? Seems pretty risky because isn't it the old joke that a healthy single man in a nursing home is bombarded with women since they die off first leaving tons of women?

Age 40, a girl works in my team - this is a regular conversation overheard...

"I have 25 Dollars left in my bank account. Boy, did we have a busy weekend"

Its non-stop eating out, cocktails, trips away.

This girl still lives in a shared rental, puts nothing extra away each month into a pension.Her plan is to find a rich older guy, who will come with a house. WTF?Is this a common theme? I know a few other people like this.

I have $20 in my bank account right now. I keep my money in other types of accounts where I can't access it as easily, because I'm not a natural saver.

Any time the topic of a woman being too old to trap a man comes up, I always this of an episode of NCIS, and chuckle, There is a scene where an older lady is aggressively hitting on Agent DiNozzo. After she leaves the room, he says to his colleagues, "That's what they call a "Turkey Vulture." 20 years past a cougar - still likes to hunt but can't take down the prey."

Any time the topic of a woman being too old to trap a man comes up, I always this of an episode of NCIS, and chuckle, There is a scene where an older lady is aggressively hitting on Agent DiNozzo. After she leaves the room, he says to his colleagues, "That's what they call a "Turkey Vulture." 20 years past a cougar - still likes to hunt but can't take down the prey."

hahhaha, love it.

Just to be clear, I meant that she was too old for the fantasy. I did not mean to suggest that 40 year old women cannot "bring down prey". Hell, I'm a post 40 woman myself!

Any time the topic of a woman being too old to trap a man comes up, I always this of an episode of NCIS, and chuckle, There is a scene where an older lady is aggressively hitting on Agent DiNozzo. After she leaves the room, he says to his colleagues, "That's what they call a "Turkey Vulture." 20 years past a cougar - still likes to hunt but can't take down the prey."

NCIS references on MMM? Oh, this is Marty's happy place! More cricket talk and a Vegemite sandwich and he'll never leave!

Age 40, a girl works in my team - this is a regular conversation overheard...

"I have 25 Dollars left in my bank account. Boy, did we have a busy weekend"

Its non-stop eating out, cocktails, trips away.

This girl still lives in a shared rental, puts nothing extra away each month into a pension.Her plan is to find a rich older guy, who will come with a house. WTF?Is this a common theme? I know a few other people like this.

Yes, at my workplace, we have several junior staff whose life goal is to find a wealthy foreigner who will take care of them for the rest of their life. The amount of money that they spend to make themselves beautiful is ridiculous. One of them recently quit her job because she started living with her foreigner boyfriend...no mention of how he was cheating on his wife with her, but of course theirs is true love and will last forever...

Not really overheard at work, but ridiculously anti-Mustachian nonetheless.

Today I bought something off Craigslist. The seller offered to deliver it at no charge to me, so I accepted. The used goods were delivered to my door by a uniformed chauffeur in a Benz. I didn't know Legos needed to be transported in such luxury with such care.

Not really overheard at work, but ridiculously anti-Mustachian nonetheless.

Today I bought something off Craigslist. The seller offered to deliver it at no charge to me, so I accepted. The used goods were delivered to my door by a uniformed chauffeur in a Benz. I didn't know Legos needed to be transported in such luxury with such care.

I kind of love this. They can afford a uniformed chauffeur and a Benz, but instead of simply throwing the lego away they sell it for someone else to use.

Not really overheard at work, but ridiculously anti-Mustachian nonetheless.

Today I bought something off Craigslist. The seller offered to deliver it at no charge to me, so I accepted. The used goods were delivered to my door by a uniformed chauffeur in a Benz. I didn't know Legos needed to be transported in such luxury with such care.

I kind of love this. They can afford a uniformed chauffeur and a Benz, but instead of simply throwing the lego away they sell it for someone else to use.

Well, to be honest, I'd probably sell (attempt at least) more stuff on craigslist if I had staff to do the legwork for me.

Not really overheard at work, but ridiculously anti-Mustachian nonetheless.

Today I bought something off Craigslist. The seller offered to deliver it at no charge to me, so I accepted. The used goods were delivered to my door by a uniformed chauffeur in a Benz. I didn't know Legos needed to be transported in such luxury with such care.

I kind of love this. They can afford a uniformed chauffeur and a Benz, but instead of simply throwing the lego away they sell it for someone else to use.

Well, to be honest, I'd probably sell (attempt at least) more stuff on craigslist if I had staff to do the legwork for me.

You're all assuming that the seller was the employer of the chauffeur, rather than the chauffeur selling the stuff that a more wasteful family are chucking out. I love the idea of the Lego sitting in the back of a Benz with a little Lego glass of champagne and a little Lego cigar.

Not really overheard at work, but ridiculously anti-Mustachian nonetheless.

Today I bought something off Craigslist. The seller offered to deliver it at no charge to me, so I accepted. The used goods were delivered to my door by a uniformed chauffeur in a Benz. I didn't know Legos needed to be transported in such luxury with such care.

I kind of love this. They can afford a uniformed chauffeur and a Benz, but instead of simply throwing the lego away they sell it for someone else to use.

Well, to be honest, I'd probably sell (attempt at least) more stuff on craigslist if I had staff to do the legwork for me.

You're all assuming that the seller was the employer of the chauffeur, rather than the chauffeur selling the stuff that a more wasteful family are chucking out. I love the idea of the Lego sitting in the back of a Benz with a little Lego glass of champagne and a little Lego cigar.

Yeah I immediately assumed it was the chaffeaur selling it (I thought his own stuff, not the rich people that he worked for's stuff), and he was just on his way to/from the job and dropped off something he was selling.

Logged

We are two former teachers who accumulated a bunch of real estate, retired at 29, and now travel the world full time with two kids.If you want to know more about me, or how we did that, or see lots of pictures, this Business Insider profile tells our story pretty well.We (occasionally) blog at AdventuringAlong.com.You can also read my forum "Journal."

Not really overheard at work, but ridiculously anti-Mustachian nonetheless.

Today I bought something off Craigslist. The seller offered to deliver it at no charge to me, so I accepted. The used goods were delivered to my door by a uniformed chauffeur in a Benz. I didn't know Legos needed to be transported in such luxury with such care.

I kind of love this. They can afford a uniformed chauffeur and a Benz, but instead of simply throwing the lego away they sell it for someone else to use.

Well, to be honest, I'd probably sell (attempt at least) more stuff on craigslist if I had staff to do the legwork for me.

You're all assuming that the seller was the employer of the chauffeur, rather than the chauffeur selling the stuff that a more wasteful family are chucking out. I love the idea of the Lego sitting in the back of a Benz with a little Lego glass of champagne and a little Lego cigar.

I considered it, but liked the thought of a rich family selling their used lego. After your post I changed my mind.

Not really overheard at work, but ridiculously anti-Mustachian nonetheless.

Today I bought something off Craigslist. The seller offered to deliver it at no charge to me, so I accepted. The used goods were delivered to my door by a uniformed chauffeur in a Benz. I didn't know Legos needed to be transported in such luxury with such care.

I kind of love this. They can afford a uniformed chauffeur and a Benz, but instead of simply throwing the lego away they sell it for someone else to use.

If they can afford a uniformed chauffeur and a Benz, they definitely don't want prospective Craigslist buyers sniffing around their home. Most buyers are honest, but it takes only one to fake an interest in buying a product only to scope a home out for subsequent burglary.

Not really overheard at work, but ridiculously anti-Mustachian nonetheless.

Today I bought something off Craigslist. The seller offered to deliver it at no charge to me, so I accepted. The used goods were delivered to my door by a uniformed chauffeur in a Benz. I didn't know Legos needed to be transported in such luxury with such care.

I kind of love this. They can afford a uniformed chauffeur and a Benz, but instead of simply throwing the lego away they sell it for someone else to use.

Well, to be honest, I'd probably sell (attempt at least) more stuff on craigslist if I had staff to do the legwork for me.

You're all assuming that the seller was the employer of the chauffeur, rather than the chauffeur selling the stuff that a more wasteful family are chucking out. I love the idea of the Lego sitting in the back of a Benz with a little Lego glass of champagne and a little Lego cigar.

I considered it, but liked the thought of a rich family selling their used lego. After your post I changed my mind.

1. Lego is FIRE, doing work away travel between different households. Currently doing 6 months with Freedomin5, is considering another 6 months with a Portuguese family next.

Hah! I actually have no idea, but I suspect it was the rich family. It was about $200-300 worth of barely used Lego. And the chauffeur didn't ask for payment. Also, chauffeur didn't speak English, whereas I had been communicating with seller in English.

Though your #1 is not far off from the truth. Lego will probably make its way to a Chinese family within the next couple years.

Hah! I actually have no idea, but I suspect it was the rich family. It was about $200-300 worth of barely used Lego. And the chauffeur didn't ask for payment. I transferred the money using Alipay (kind of like PayPal) to the seller with whom I had been in contact.

Though your #1 is not far off from the truth. Lego will probably make its way to a Chinese family within the next couple years.

Those little bricks are the most durable things; I have never seen any that looked obviously used. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Those little bricks are the most durable things; I have never seen any that looked obviously used. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I have several hundred lego/duplo blocks in my house with visible wear. Granted, that's out of several thousand individual blocks, most of which are on their fourth and fifth child owner, but it does happen.

Sorry...my previous posts kind of derailed this thread a bit. Let's get it back on track...

Today, at work, my coworker was talking about doing some kind of run for charity, where each of the team members need to raise a minimum amount. She said that most of her team was unable to raise the minimum (about $150). The sad thing is that all of them spend at least that much every Thursday, Friday, and Saturday at the bar getting smashed.

Also, I had a coworker openly admit that he spends $800/month on weed. (And by the way lives paycheck to paycheck)

Where are you? I work in the industry and sell to a head shop that's run by 2 very smart brothers that smoke A TON and neither of them spend more than $400 a month. Either he's getting ripped off or is doing something else wrong.

Yesterday (Monday), I came into work and saw that they were re-paving parts of the parking lot. Because I like my car and realize that paving operations need a wide berth, I moved my car to a completely different parking lot.

Me to CW: Wow, I didn't realize that they were doing work today. I moved my car so that it wouldn't get damaged.CW: Yeah, they started on Friday, but we weren't told that we needed to park elsewhere in the notice from property management. **proceeds to pull out phone** look at this damage that the contactor caused to my car...Me: **looks at phone and sees baseball sized mark on her car**CW: I came in the morning and yelled at the contractor demanding that he pay to fix me car, but he denies that he caused the damageMe: You should file an insurance claimCW: I can't because, I can't afford the $250 deductible to get the car fixed

...then it all goes down about 30 minutes later. CW runs by me saying that the husband is there to fight the contractor since he is denying that he caused the damage. The husband pulls up like a bat out of hell and storms the contractor wielding a large wrench. The police are called and CW and husband almost get arrested. ....All because they couldn't afford the $250 deductible to fix the car (which BTW would get paid back to them when their insurance company subrogated back to the contractor's insurance).

Hah! I actually have no idea, but I suspect it was the rich family. It was about $200-300 worth of barely used Lego. And the chauffeur didn't ask for payment. I transferred the money using Alipay (kind of like PayPal) to the seller with whom I had been in contact.

Though your #1 is not far off from the truth. Lego will probably make its way to a Chinese family within the next couple years.

Those little bricks are the most durable things; I have never seen any that looked obviously used. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Come to my house, you'll find some that are worn. Then again, we have the Lego that my husband had as a child (half his family is from Denmark) and he's pushing 50.

Also, I had a coworker openly admit that he spends $800/month on weed. (And by the way lives paycheck to paycheck)

Where are you? I work in the industry and sell to a head shop that's run by 2 very smart brothers that smoke A TON and neither of them spend more than $400 a month. Either he's getting ripped off or is doing something else wrong.

Friend of mine smokes way more than $800/month. I'd estimate closer to $2k, but I don't really want to know, because he's also paycheck to paycheck. Super high tolerance and desire to be high 24/7 costs a lot. Wake up, dab, eat 60mg edible, breakfast, dab more, roll a blunt, dab, lunch. Dab dab dab, another edible, etc etc. Works from home so this is every day.

Also, I had a coworker openly admit that he spends $800/month on weed. (And by the way lives paycheck to paycheck)

Where are you? I work in the industry and sell to a head shop that's run by 2 very smart brothers that smoke A TON and neither of them spend more than $400 a month. Either he's getting ripped off or is doing something else wrong.

Friend of mine smokes way more than $800/month. I'd estimate closer to $2k, but I don't really want to know, because he's also paycheck to paycheck. Super high tolerance and desire to be high 24/7 costs a lot. Wake up, dab, eat 60mg edible, breakfast, dab more, roll a blunt, dab, lunch. Dab dab dab, another edible, etc etc. Works from home so this is every day.

DANG! Esp as you're in CA where weed is legal. I don't know what prices are like in SF but I imagine they are cheaper than in states where pot is illegal. That is a good point that the more you smoke the higher your tolerance gets.

Also, I had a coworker openly admit that he spends $800/month on weed. (And by the way lives paycheck to paycheck)

Where are you? I work in the industry and sell to a head shop that's run by 2 very smart brothers that smoke A TON and neither of them spend more than $400 a month. Either he's getting ripped off or is doing something else wrong.

Friend of mine smokes way more than $800/month. I'd estimate closer to $2k, but I don't really want to know, because he's also paycheck to paycheck. Super high tolerance and desire to be high 24/7 costs a lot. Wake up, dab, eat 60mg edible, breakfast, dab more, roll a blunt, dab, lunch. Dab dab dab, another edible, etc etc. Works from home so this is every day.

DANG! Esp as you're in CA where weed is legal. I don't know what prices are like in SF but I imagine they are cheaper than in states where pot is illegal. That is a good point that the more you smoke the higher your tolerance gets.

Not at work, but a good friend over the weekend admitted he has absolutely no savings, at age 40. He's been making 6 figures for the past 10 years. (Stay at home wife, one kid).

I hate to admit that I barely feel sad for him, even if he's a friend: I've pointed him to MMM more than 3 years ago, yet he has done absolutely nothing to correct his trajectory. He has strong expectations to get a raise this year through an expat contract, which would probably double his income and "finally allow him to save". But given that as part of his new expat life he also expects to send his kid to an expensive private school, live in a very fancy city dozens of miles away from his work (factory will be in a small-ish town in Europe, they don't want to live there) because "his wife deserves it", and get a bigger apartment than what they have now for the same reason, I'm doubtful they'll save much.

Am I evil for thinking "I can't wait to pull the plug from my 9 to 5 just so that he finally asks me how I did it, and I'll point him to that email I sent back in 2014 with a selection of MMM articles" ?

Not at work, but a good friend over the weekend admitted he has absolutely no savings, at age 40. He's been making 6 figures for the past 10 years. (Stay at home wife, one kid).

I hate to admit that I barely feel sad for him, even if he's a friend: I've pointed him to MMM more than 3 years ago, yet he has done absolutely nothing to correct his trajectory. He has strong expectations to get a raise this year through an expat contract, which would probably double his income and "finally allow him to save". But given that as part of his new expat life he also expects to send his kid to an expensive private school, live in a very fancy city dozens of miles away from his work (factory will be in a small-ish town in Europe, they don't want to live there) because "his wife deserves it", and get a bigger apartment than what they have now for the same reason, I'm doubtful they'll save much.

Am I evil for thinking "I can't wait to pull the plug from my 9 to 5 just so that he finally asks me how I did it, and I'll point him to that email I sent back in 2014 with a selection of MMM articles" ?

That fantasy sounds like a coating of "can't wait to rub it in his face!" over a core of "...and maybe then he finally gets it and start making changes!". You would make a terrible evil genius.

Yeah. I feel bad that I have these thoughts, but I have to be honest, they're here, in the back of my mind.

What I meant was that you arn't as evil as it sounds. It's not like you would rub it in his face if he lost his job. You are talking about a situation where he still have the option to change, and your FIRE might be the thing that makes him actually listen.

I also have people I care about that makes horrible decisions when it comes to money. It's frustrating, and I have similar fantasies as the one you described. It's a good way to keep from strangling them sometimes! And at the core of it, what we REALLY want is for them to see the responsible financial light.

Not at work, but a good friend over the weekend admitted he has absolutely no savings, at age 40. He's been making 6 figures for the past 10 years. (Stay at home wife, one kid).

I hate to admit that I barely feel sad for him, even if he's a friend: I've pointed him to MMM more than 3 years ago, yet he has done absolutely nothing to correct his trajectory. He has strong expectations to get a raise this year through an expat contract, which would probably double his income and "finally allow him to save". But given that as part of his new expat life he also expects to send his kid to an expensive private school, live in a very fancy city dozens of miles away from his work (factory will be in a small-ish town in Europe, they don't want to live there) because "his wife deserves it", and get a bigger apartment than what they have now for the same reason, I'm doubtful they'll save much.

Am I evil for thinking "I can't wait to pull the plug from my 9 to 5 just so that he finally asks me how I did it, and I'll point him to that email I sent back in 2014 with a selection of MMM articles" ?

I've seen this happen before and it's terrifying.

I was working for a year on an expat contract in Iraq for an oil company - we were all on big money to work in a hostile environment. I had someone in my office (I work in HR) terrified as he said, "I can't afford to lose this job - I'm not able to save anything from my salary". I also found out that he wasn't contributing to our employer pension either. We were paying him £250k/year and the guy is in his 50s.

12 months on this deal and I funded engagement, a wedding, bought a house and still contributed 35% of my salary towards a pension. And even this was a bit spendy.

Kudos however to another guy I grabbed a beer with one night who said, "I figure this gig won't last forever and they pay us loads, so I've always banked every other pay check I've got. If they need to cut back I'm good to go for retirement".

Not quite anti-mustachian, but I just started at a new company. I negotiated for 20 days of vacation (a lot for someone my age in the US--I'm 27). A woman I work with--she's 30--started about 9 months before me, and 6 months before another woman I work with. She said "you can thank me for the vacation btw. He tried to give me 10 days, I told him I wasn't coming with less than 15 days of vacation"

I didn't say anything--didn't want to start anything--but I was thinking to myself how lucky I was to ask for as much as I did. Should have asked for more; I'm getting 5 less days off than my last job once you count in holidays as well.

"But, I can't afford to participate in the ESPP I need the money"The contribution limit is capped at 15%, there is no holding period, and the match is 25%. They cannot be without 15% of their paycheck for a few days to capture a 3.75% raise. I have difficulty understanding the thought process that goes into needing every penny right now instead of being able to wait a few days and get the generous match.

He has strong expectations to get a raise this year through an expat contract, which would probably double his income and "finally allow him to save".

People refuse to accept that if you spend 100% of your money, more money isn't going to solve your spending problems. Increasing savings is a critical step before increasing income, otherwise what happens is exactly what he's planning on doing with the extra money. Also why lottery winners go broke. If you're broke before winning the lottery/getting a raise, you're probably going to be broke after, unless you really do make so little it's impossible to save even with 100% effort. It's a bummer of a problem of human psychology (stubbornness).

We were discussing with CW1 that when she moved in together with her boyfriend, he rented a storage locker for his "bachelor" things that didn't fit in the joint home. She told him that none of those things will make it back to the house as they will not fit their current life but he still has a hard time of letting go and so they still rent that storage locker. They've been living together about half a year or so, getting engaged soon, so likely his bachelor stuff will not be needed. (It includes, among other things, some neon sign and a large cardboard cut out of some hockey player.. in case someone's wondering.)

I contributed my story of my exCW that paid $100 a month for a storage locker for her husband's stuff in NJ after he move to Canada to be with her. A year later they finally drove down to clear out the locker and ended up throwing away 90% as garbage and old dented pots and pans and were left with perhaps 10% something useful to keep. But $1200 for that?? She was so angry.

So current CW2 contributes that in 2013 they were set on moving from Brisbane to Perth when at the last moment the job fell through with Perth. They had already rented a shipping container for their stuff, including appliances, for the move. At the time, they went on a vacation to home country (in Africa) and then didn't return. So now, in 2017, he is set on shipping that container to Canada where we're currently at. The cost of renting that container? $520/quarter.... not sure if that's Australian dollars to boot. And those Australian appliances.. wrong power for Canada.

Not quite anti-mustachian, but I just started at a new company. I negotiated for 20 days of vacation (a lot for someone my age in the US--I'm 27). A woman I work with--she's 30--started about 9 months before me, and 6 months before another woman I work with. She said "you can thank me for the vacation btw. He tried to give me 10 days, I told him I wasn't coming with less than 15 days of vacation"

I didn't say anything--didn't want to start anything--but I was thinking to myself how lucky I was to ask for as much as I did. Should have asked for more; I'm getting 5 less days off than my last job once you count in holidays as well.

This- I've at least attempted to negotiate for additional vacation days at pretty much every job I've had. Sometimes it works out well, or most of the other times that conversation turns into "well we can't give you more time off, but we can increase your salary". When I tell this to most friends and co-workers they are stunned.

All you've got to do is ask, the worst they say is no and you are left with the original offer.

We were discussing with CW1 that when she moved in together with her boyfriend, he rented a storage locker for his "bachelor" things that didn't fit in the joint home. She told him that none of those things will make it back to the house as they will not fit their current life but he still has a hard time of letting go and so they still rent that storage locker. They've been living together about half a year or so, getting engaged soon, so likely his bachelor stuff will not be needed. (It includes, among other things, some neon sign and a large cardboard cut out of some hockey player.. in case someone's wondering.)

I contributed my story of my exCW that paid $100 a month for a storage locker for her husband's stuff in NJ after he move to Canada to be with her. A year later they finally drove down to clear out the locker and ended up throwing away 90% as garbage and old dented pots and pans and were left with perhaps 10% something useful to keep. But $1200 for that?? She was so angry.

So current CW2 contributes that in 2013 they were set on moving from Brisbane to Perth when at the last moment the job fell through with Perth. They had already rented a shipping container for their stuff, including appliances, for the move. At the time, they went on a vacation to home country (in Africa) and then didn't return. So now, in 2017, he is set on shipping that container to Canada where we're currently at. The cost of renting that container? $520/quarter.... not sure if that's Australian dollars to boot. And those Australian appliances.. wrong power for Canada.

My aunt and uncle, after living for about 4 years in Canada, at age approx 28, accepted a job offer in indonesia, at an expat oil camp. The contract was only for 2 years, and the company paid for movers for them, and a storage locker fees while they were away. They only had a few weeks to arrange everything.

At the last week, my aunt was overwhelmed, and the packing crew came before she was ready. While she was trying to sort out issues about furniture, the packing crew packed EVERYTHING remaining in every cupboard. The only thing they did not pack was the kitchen trash, but they DID pack the trash cans from the bedrooms, with trash still inside. Of note, my aunt being frugal and low $ after they first moved out, had bought nearly everything at garage sales up to that point.

They moved overseas with a small amount of personal items, and the rest went into storage.

My uncle ended up extending his work overseas, with different companies, for the next 25 years. They had to pay for the storage unit for most of those years. On one rare 2 year stint back in Alberta, they shipped their new rosewood furniture with them, it too, went into another storage unit. 30 years later, they finally faced up to the storage unit that they had been paying for all these years, and in a trip back to canada to renew drivers licenses, etc, they finally cleared it out and reduced it by 3/4. And yes, rosewood furniture from Indonesia will crack in dry Alberta winters.

Can you imagine realizing that you have been paying over $100 a month to store the trash, cheap christmas paper wrap, your junk drawer and garage sale "finds" for 30 years?!

I have a co-worker who likes to talk about bitcoins at every available opportunity. He has the most IT certifications in our team, does almost now work, and is the boss's pet. A annoying little cert queen.

I have a co-worker who likes to talk about bitcoins at every available opportunity. He has the most IT certifications in our team, does almost now work, and is the boss's pet. A annoying little cert queen.

He's always talking about wanting to mine or trade BTC/LTC/ETH. He doesn't realize he doesn't have the money for it. For the seed capital he should save, or use OPM. He doesn't want to use OPM.

He also loves to brag about how he's turned down job offers from Microsoft.

Talk is cheap and doesn't require effort.

For developer roles, I have found absolutely zero correlation between certifications and general competence, to the point where I don't even bother reading the education/certs section of the resume when interviewing someone.

For developer roles, I have found absolutely zero correlation between certifications and general competence, to the point where I don't even bother reading the education/certs section of the resume when interviewing someone.

For developer roles, I have found absolutely zero correlation between certifications and general competence, to the point where I don't even bother reading the education/certs section of the resume when interviewing someone.

I have a co-worker who likes to talk about bitcoins at every available opportunity. He has the most IT certifications in our team, does almost now work, and is the boss's pet. A annoying little cert queen.

He's always talking about wanting to mine or trade BTC/LTC/ETH. He doesn't realize he doesn't have the money for it. For the seed capital he should save, or use OPM. He doesn't want to use OPM.

He also loves to brag about how he's turned down job offers from Microsoft.

Talk is cheap and doesn't require effort.

For developer roles, I have found absolutely zero correlation between certifications and general competence, to the point where I don't even bother reading the education/certs section of the resume when interviewing someone.

I have a co-worker who likes to talk about bitcoins at every available opportunity. He has the most IT certifications in our team, does almost now work, and is the boss's pet. A annoying little cert queen.

He's always talking about wanting to mine or trade BTC/LTC/ETH. He doesn't realize he doesn't have the money for it. For the seed capital he should save, or use OPM. He doesn't want to use OPM.

He also loves to brag about how he's turned down job offers from Microsoft.

Talk is cheap and doesn't require effort.

For developer roles, I have found absolutely zero correlation between certifications and general competence, to the point where I don't even bother reading the education/certs section of the resume when interviewing someone.

Maybe it's different for network admins or DBAs?

Certs on request (you request the cert, I'll go get it for the job)

He isn't a developer. Just a systems engineer in DoD IT. Our boss likes to hire people with certs as we can bill the govt more. Most of the work is done competently by guys who don't have certs.

I'm dropping my 2 week notice later today. I get to work from home and only come to my old workplace occasionally to support the customer. Going to a company that doesn't care about certs, just experience. They'll increase pay for every cert I get.

2 less hours of driving. No more traffic to deal with. Boy am I going to miss NPR. Wife is freaking out that twice a week we'll both be working together and her brain cannot compute. I told her to relax and assume I'll be in another office, which will be the dining room. Gave her strict rules not to talk to me for 8 hours, no chores/assignments/honey-dos.

EDIT: Gave the boss my 2 week notice. Told him it wasn't about the money, it was a new challenge in a related industry that values my experience and skills. I went to another building to help build a tech shop. In my absence, he accused future-boss of poaching "his guy" and there better be no more.It's a right-to-work state and at-will employment. We live in a capitalist country. WTF!